Proposition 110: Sales taxes for transportation
Type: Change in state law. Simple majority required for passage.
At issue: Should Colorado raise sales taxes by just over half a penny to fund highway and mass transit projects?
This debate has raged at the state legislature for years, and this November, voters will finally have a choice. Behind door No. 1 lies a .62 percent sales tax hike that would raise $767 million a year for state highway, mass transit and local infrastructure projects. The bulk of the proceeds would be used to pay off $6 billion in transportation bonds. The debt payments would cost the state up to $9.4 billion with interest over 20 years.
The ramifications: The typical Colorado family making $74,000 is projected to pay an extra $131 in sales taxes each year to fund the measure. That would give the state a dedicated revenue stream for roads, while sparing the rest of the state budget the cuts that would be required to fund the state’s infrastructure needs otherwise.
For more: Read the measure and the ballot analysis.
— Brian Eason, Special to The Colorado Sun
MORE: A preview of Colorado’s 2018 ballot: Taxes, roads and an existential crisis for oil and gas
- Colorado delays universal preschool program matching date to April 26 following concerns about system
- Keystone will become Colorado’s newest town after voters approve incorporation
- How is Colorado doing on its electric vehicle plans? The answer is mixed.
- New Colorado preschool program’s matching system not ready for prime time, education groups worry
- Colorado lawmakers’ inaction on rising property tax bills stokes another ballot measure arms race